Law as a Second Career: Alan Page

Here’s an item in honor of the Minnesota Vikings, who may or may not be headed to the Super Bowl after this weekend.

Alan Page, a defensive tackle, was one of the Vikings’ vaunted “Purple People Eaters” of the 1960s and ’70s. During that stretch, Minnesota made the Super Bowl four times, all losses. Page, who played for Minnesota from 1967 to 1978, was an All-Pro nine times. After hanging up his spikes in 1981 (he spent his last few seasons as a member of the Chicago Bears), he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame seven years later.

That’s his football story. A Notre Dame alumnus, he envisioned a life after the gridiron. He attended law school at the University of Minnesota, earning his degree in 1978. He was an associate at a Minneapolis firm for a few years, then in 1985, he went to work for the attorney general’s office.

In 1992, he was elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court, the first African-American to serve on that bench. He has been reelected twice since; he comes up on the ballot again this fall.